IT Technical Lead - Card Issuing

Main Responsibilities A. Card Issuing Technical Ownership - Act as the primary IT technical owner for the Card Management System (CMS), issuer processing and all connected card platforms. - Own technology requirements for debit, credit, prepaid, physical and virtual card products. - Cover the full card lifecycle including issuance, personalization, activation, PIN management, replacement, renewal, block/unblock, limits, controls, expiry and closure. - Understand and validate issuer authorization, clearing, settlement, reconciliation and financial posting flows. - Own issuer-side integration with Core Banking, middleware/API gateway, mobile and internet banking, CRM, fraud systems, notification platforms, data warehouse, general ledger and reconciliation systems. - Review ISO 8583 messages, API specifications, message mapping, transaction routing and integration behavior where applicable. - Provide technical ownership for EMV, 3D Secure, tokenization, digital wallets, card-on-file/token services, contactless, ATM/POS and e-commerce transactions from the issuer perspective. - Review and challenge vendor solution designs, estimates, dependencies and implementation approaches to protect the Bank's technical and operational interests. B. Jaywan Co-Badged Card Issuing - Core Responsibility - Lead the end-to-end technology delivery and ongoing support of Jaywan co-badged card issuing products as a principal responsibility of the role. - Coordinate technical activities between the Bank, Jaywan/AEP, the relevant international card scheme, issuer processor/switch, CMS provider, card personalization bureau and other technology partners. - Translate Jaywan, international scheme and regulatory specifications into complete Bank business, functional, technical and operational requirements. - Own and validate co-badge card product configuration, BIN/IIN and product profiles, card application/profile parameters, scheme selection and transaction-routing logic. - Validate domestic and international transaction behavior, including authorization, clearing, settlement, reversals, refunds, reconciliation, fees, foreign-exchange treatment and financial postings as applicable to the approved product design. - Ensure the required card application parameters, AID/profile configuration and terminal/issuer interaction rules are correctly reflected across processor, CMS and personalization environments. - Coordinate certification, end-to-end testing, production simulation and scheme/processor readiness activities, including defect tracking and closure. - Ensure product-specific restrictions, controls and enablement rules for contactless, e-commerce, tokenization, wallets and other channels are implemented in accordance with the approved Jaywan co-badged product scope. - Coordinate regulatory and scheme-mandated changes affecting Jaywan co-badged cards and perform impact assessments across Bank systems and vendors. - Lead technical troubleshooting for co-badged transaction issues, routing failures, authorization discrepancies, clearing/settlement mismatches and reconciliation breaks. - Maintain complete documentation for Jaywan co-badged architecture, transaction flows, scheme interfaces, configuration dependencies, testing evidence and operational support procedures. - Act as the internal technical subject-matter expert for Jaywan co-badged issuing and support Cards, Operations, Finance, Fraud, Compliance and Customer Support teams with technical analysis when required. C. Business Analysis Responsibilities - Conduct workshops with Cards, Operations, Product, Digital Banking, Compliance, Risk, Fraud, Finance, Information Security and other stakeholders. - Gather, analyze and document business and functional requirements for card initiatives. - Prepare Business Requirement Documents (BRDs), functional specifications, user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, customer journeys, sequence diagrams, data mappings, interface requirements and business rules. - Perform impact assessments and gap analysis across systems, vendors, operational processes and regulatory requirements. - Ensure requirements are complete, testable, traceable and formally agreed before development starts. - Maintain requirement traceability through SIT, UAT, certification and production implementation. - Support stakeholders in defining UAT scenarios and validating delivered functionality against approved requirements. D. Project & Change Coordination - Coordinate assigned card projects and Change Requests from initiation through production implementation and hypercare. - Build and maintain implementation plans, milestone trackers, action logs and RAID logs covering risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies. - Coordinate activities across internal IT teams, Business, Operations, processors, schemes and technology vendors. - Conduct regular project status meetings and issue concise status reports highlighting progress, blockers, dependencies and decisions required. - Actively follow up deliverables and escalate delays or unresolved dependencies to IT management. - Coordinate SIT, UAT, scheme certification, production-readiness reviews, release approvals, deployment, smoke testing and post-production validation. - Ensure successful handover to Application Support and Operations with complete documentation and support procedures. E. Card Scheme, Processor & Vendor Coordination - Act as a key IT coordination point with Jaywan/AEP, Visa, Mastercard and other applicable card schemes and payment partners. - Review scheme mandates, processor specifications, technical bulletins and certification requirements and assess their impact on the Bank. - Coordinate issuer processor, card switch, CMS, 3DS, tokenization, personalization, fraud and digital-wallet providers. - Validate vendor technical proposals, effort estimates, delivery timelines and solution assumptions. - Track vendor commitments, SLA performance, defects, RCA actions and project deliverables to closure. - Ensure vendors provide sufficient design documentation, implementation evidence, operational procedures and knowledge transfer. F. Production Support & Incident Management - Provide technical leadership for P1/P2 and other significant card-related production incidents. - Coordinate investigation across processors, schemes, middleware, Core Banking, digital channels and other dependent systems. - Analyze transaction messages, application logs, API traces and system behavior to identify the failing component or integration point. - Drive vendors toward timely restoration, root-cause identification and permanent remediation. - Review Root Cause Analysis (RCA) reports for technical accuracy and ensure corrective and preventive actions are tracked to closure. - Identify recurring incidents and recommend structural fixes, monitoring improvements and control enhancements. G. Testing, Certification & Quality Assurance - Define end-to-end test scope based on approved requirements and technical impact. - Review SIT and UAT scenarios, ensuring positive, negative, exception, reversal and reconciliation cases are adequately covered. - Coordinate scheme, processor and personalization certifications where applicable. - Manage defects through prioritization, technical clarification, retesting and closure. - Ensure sufficient regression testing and production smoke testing are completed before closing a change. H. Regulatory, Security & Compliance - Ensure card systems and changes comply with applicable Central Bank of the UAE requirements and approved Bank policies. - Ensure alignment, where applicable, with PCI DSS, PCI PIN, EMV, 3DS, scheme security requirements, data-protection controls and information-security standards. - Work closely with Compliance, Fraud Risk, Information Security, Operational Risk and Audit teams to incorporate required controls into card solutions. - Ensure sensitive cardholder data, cryptographic keys, credentials and transaction information are handled in accordance with applicable security standards and Bank governance. I. Change, Release & Governance - Prepare and maintain technical Change Requests, impact assessments, implementation plans, rollback plans and production validation steps. - Obtain required technical, security, business and operational approvals prior to release. - Coordinate releases across all participating vendors and Bank teams. - Ensure architecture, interface, configuration and support documentation is updated after material changes. - Participate in service reviews, technical governance forums and card technology roadmap discussions. J. Documentation & Knowledge Management - Maintain current system architecture, integration diagrams, interface/API catalogues, transaction flows, data flows and dependency maps for the issuer environment. - Maintain documentation for card lifecycle, authorization, clearing, settlement, reconciliation, 3DS, tokenization and Jaywan co-badged flows. - Prepare troubleshooting guides, known-error documentation, support procedures and operational handover packs. - Reduce dependency on individual vendors by retaining sufficient technical and functional knowledge within the Bank. Required Domain & Technical Knowledge - Card issuing and card lifecycle management. - Jaywan and UAE domestic card-scheme environment; direct Jaywan co-badged implementation experience is highly desirable. - Visa and/or Mastercard issuer processing. - Debit, credit, prepaid, physical and virtual cards. - Issuer authorization, clearing, settlement and reconciliation. - ISO 8583, EMV, 3D Secure and card tokenization concepts. - Digital wallets and issuer-side card provisioning/integration. - APIs, REST/SOAP, JSON/XML, middleware and API gateways. - SQL, application logs, transaction logs and API testing tools such as Postman. - Jira/Confluence or equivalent delivery and documentation platforms. - Process modelling and technical documentation tools such as Visio or equivalent.